Nintendo Reveals First Look at Metroid Prime 4 Beyond
After seven years of mystery, Nintendo finally pulled back the curtain on Metroid Prime 4: Beyond during their recent Nintendo Direct presentation.
Metroid Prime 4 was initially announced in a Nintendo Direct back in 2017; it was later confirmed that Retro Studios were not involved with development. Nintendo then announced in January 2019 that Metroid Prime 4 had completely restarted development, this time under the helm of Retro Studios. Other than the odd job advertisement here and there, that was the last update Nintendo revealed about Metroid Prime 4… until today.
The June 2024 Nintendo Direct presentation showcased a brand new trailer for Metroid Prime 4 and revealed its subtitle: Beyond. Take a look below.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will launch in 2025 for Nintendo Switch
Metroid Zero Mission Announced for Nintendo Switch Online
Nintendo have just announced, via the recent Nintendo Direct Presentation, that Metroid Zero Mission will be coming to the Nintendo Switch Online app later today.
We will update this article if there are any more updates regarding its release.
UPDATE – Metroid Zero Mission is now available to Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pass users. To access the game, subscribers will need to download the latest version of the Game Boy Advance Nintendo Switch Online application (1.8.0).
In addition, the NSO version of Zero Mission comes with the Metroid Fusion Gallery pre-unlocked, which was previously only accessible using the GameBoy Advance’s Link Cable feature.
Metroid Dread director gives interview
Earlier in June 2024, José Luis Márquez, the Creative Director of Metroid: Samus Returns and Metroid Dread at MercurySteam, gave a talk to students from the Escuela de Videojuegos y Arte Digital (School of Video Games and Digital Art). He was interviewed by the Spanish gaming magazine Gamereactor and discussed his work in the Metroidvania genre. MercurySteam is the only studio in the world to have developed games in both of the franchises that began the genre, Metroid and Castlevania, and this was highlighted. The interview’s topics were the differences between developing Metroid on Nintendo 3DS vs. Nintendo Switch, and Samus’s tendency to lose her abilities at the start of Metroid games.
For some reason, the interview has since been removed from the site, but you can still watch it with English subtitles at the archived link below.
Source: Gamereactor (in Spanish)
Feature: 30 Sec. Wonders – Tokusatsu CF Land
Shinesparkers is delighted to share a brand new feature! This one is a translation of two articles in the Japanese magazine Spaceship, with behind the scenes details regarding the Metroid II and Super Metroid commercials aired only in Japan in 1991 and 1994. We discovered them during my search for Samus’s actresses and planned on translating them in the future. In addition to the articles, I am also sharing additional discoveries I made regarding the production of both commercials, including a new picture of the stop-motion Samus figure used in them! These commercials remain popular with Metroid fans in Japan and overseas, and we hope you’ll enjoy learning more about how they were made as much as we did!
World Video Game Hall of Fame passes on Metroid
The tenth class of honorees has been inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. As reported a few months back, Metroid was one of the nominees this year, after previously being nominated in 2018. Unfortunately, it has once again not made the cut. The five games that were chosen are Asteroids, Myst, Resident Evil, SimCity and Ultima.
Metroid would have been a worthy inclusion. The franchise began nearly 40 years ago, and gave birth to the Metroidvania genre of games. We can only hope that Metroid, or one of the later games (Super Metroid, perhaps?) will eventually find its way into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Until then, congratulations to the five inductees and their developers on this achievement!
Source: ABC News
Shinesparkers team members interviewed for Retro Gamer magazine
This month’s issue of Retro Gamer magazine features a retrospective of Super Metroid on its 30th anniversary. Their editor Darran Jones invited members of the Shinesparkers team, namely myself, our founder Darren and Community Manager Glaedrax, to share our thoughts about Super Metroid as it marks a significant milestone. Also interviewed were Jack Mathews, the Technical Lead Engineer of the Metroid Prime series, and Jacobo Luengo, a designer for Metroid: Samus Returns and Metroid Dread.
Retro Gamer is available in physical form in stores across the United Kingdom. If you are unable to track down a physical copy, you can order it online at the link here.
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition announced, includes Metroid
A few days ago, an ESRB rating surfaced for Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition. Today, Nintendo has officially announced that the game is coming to Nintendo Switch. It is packed with timed speedrun challenges in multiple classic NES games, including Metroid. From clips shown in the trailer, the Metroid challenges have you try to reach points of interest as quickly as possible, like getting to the Morph Ball. The faster your time, the better your ranking, S being the highest. There’s also a Party Mode where up to eight players can compete in the same challenge.
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition will be released on July 18th, in digital and a physical Collector’s Edition form. The physical edition will include a gold replica NES cartridge, thirteen art cards and five pins.
Source: YouTube
Former Epic Games CCO confirms Samus was wanted for Fortnite
Three years ago, it was reported that Epic Games had considered Samus Aran for inclusion in Fortnite, as revealed in documents filed during their lawsuit against Apple. That collaboration never came to pass.
In a new interview with Stephen Totilo on his Game File Substack newsletter, former Epic Games Chief Creative Officer Donald Mustard revealed why. Nintendo was not keen on seeing Samus, or their other characters, appear on other gaming platforms. They insisted that Samus would need to be exclusive to the Switch version of Fortnite, or else they would not authorize her appearance. Epic, wanting to ensure all of the game’s content could be accessible regardless of which platform players had, did not agree to those terms. That is why Samus is not in Fortnite.
This is not without precedent. Mario, Luigi and Metroid vehicles were added to Rocket League in 2017, but are exclusive to the Switch version and appear as regular cars when competing online through cross-platform play. Additionally, Samus and Link were almost included in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance’s Wii version. However, when they were demonstrated to Nintendo on the PlayStation 2 version of the game, Nintendo backed out of the collaboration and demanded their characters be cut.
It’s a shame. We could have had Samus square off with everyone from Master Chief (finally!) to Kratos, Lara Croft and other gaming titans she didn’t previously face in Super Smash Bros. Time will tell if Nintendo and Epic resolve their impasse.
Feature: Super Metroid – Where Are They Now?
We’re continuing the 30th anniversary celebrations for Super Metroid with our latest feature. We wanted to know where the development team of Super Metroid is now, more than three decades on. Many Metroid fans are familiar with producer Yoshio Sakamoto and composers Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano, but many more people developed the game, tested it and marketed it, and we were determined to ensure they were recognized as well. Click the link below to learn more.